Earned leave follows days worked
Under the OSH Code, a worker who completes 180 days of work in a calendar year earns one day of paid leave for every 20 days worked. A machine operator who works 280 days in the year earns 14 days. Unused leave can be carried forward up to 30 days, and the worker may ask for encashment of unused leave at the end of the year. See the leave entitlement rules for the full position.
Decide in your standing orders how leave days and shutdown days count toward days worked, and apply that rule to every worker in every department the same way. Mixed practice between the machine shop and the assembly line is where most leave disputes in plants begin.
A leave mix that suits the shop floor
Workers who migrated from Bihar, Odisha or eastern Uttar Pradesh often save earned leave for one long trip home at harvest or for a family wedding. Local workers need short breaks for a bank visit, a child's school meeting or a ration card office. The policy should serve both.
- Casual leave for short personal work, allowed in half days
- Sick leave with a medical certificate after 2 consecutive days
- Earned leave for long trips home, applied at least 15 days ahead
- Leave without pay only once paid balances are used up
Protecting the line during crunch weeks
Most plants know their tight weeks in advance: month-end dispatch, a model changeover, a customer audit. Instead of a blanket leave ban, give supervisors a simple number. If a line needs 12 operators and 14 are rostered, only 2 can be away on the same day. The supervisor checks the team leave calendar, approves up to that number and suggests other dates to the rest. Emergencies still need a path, so sick leave stays open with a certificate.
Sandwich rules and comp-off
Leave on Saturday and Monday around a Sunday off is common after festivals. A sandwich rule counts the weekly off in between as leave when the absence surrounds it. Decide whether holidays behave like weekly offs and which leave types the rule applies to. Workers who come in on a weekly off for a breakdown or an urgent dispatch should get a comp-off credit with an expiry you set, for example 60 days, so it is used rather than piled up.
How to set it up in ZeniaHR
- In Leave Ledger, keep CL and SL, set EL accrual so the year's total tracks one day for every 20 days worked, and post an adjustment entry where a worker's actual days differ.
- In Leave Applications, set notice days for EL, a document after 2 days of SL, half days allowed for CL, and whether each type is allowed in probation.
- In Leave rules, choose the surround sandwich mode for weekly offs and decide whether holidays count like weekends.
- Set comp-off expiry for work on weekly offs and holidays so the Leave Ledger lapses unused credits on time.
- Ask supervisors to check the Leave Calendar filtered by their department before approving; HR then approves in the same chain.
- Before year end, preview carry forward with the 30-day cap and process encashment requests as a payroll earning.
Read more about leave management in ZeniaHR.
Roles this applies to
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How many earned leaves does a factory worker get in a year?
A worker who completes 180 days of work in a calendar year earns one day of paid leave for every 20 days worked. So 240 days worked gives 12 days of leave and 300 days gives 15. Unused leave can be carried forward up to 30 days, and the worker can ask for encashment of unused leave at the end of the year.
Should casual leave be allowed in half days for factory workers?
Yes, half-day casual leave works well on the shop floor. A worker can take the first half for a bank or school visit and report at mid-shift instead of losing a full day. Allow half days for CL, and ZeniaHR charges 0.5 day and shows the balance after, so the supervisor is not asked to approve a full day for a two-hour errand.
What is a sandwich leave rule in a factory?
A sandwich rule counts a weekly off or holiday as leave when the worker takes leave on both sides of it. If a worker is on leave Saturday and Monday, the Sunday in between is also charged. Plants use it to discourage stretched weekends in production weeks. Apply it only to the leave types you name, and tell workers before it starts.